Let me see if I understand this, they are trying to alleviate my concerns that this movie might suck by telling me the writing team responsible for the absolutely trash that was the Transformers movie might be writing it? Or is it that someone upstairs actually thinkgs Transformers was good?

With merchandizing and DVD sales, it was probably fine.

Yeah, the whole domestic situation really brought it down for me, plus “truth, justice, all that stuff.” Which is a shame, because there were a lot of things it got right.

Transformers was pretty good, for a movie about the Transformers – didn’t expect a lot of depth. I would think the same writers would use a different approach for a Supes movie.

Perhaps, Joe, but that’s assuming that merchandising and DVD sales were strong. Remember, it costs money to make toys, DVDs, etc… And money to promote/market those things too. Go into just about any toy store and see quite a few SR toys still sitting around at 50% (or more) off.

The DVD’s probably done decent business — and that probably pushed it into modest profitability — but hardly a blockbuster. I know a lot of comic geeks, but I don’t know anyone who bought SR. The real question is, will people bite on the sequel? Not me.

Maybe they should just relaunch the franchise a la Incredible Hulk…Get rid of the kid thing and have a real Supervillain.

I vote for Braniac, Darkseid, Doomsday…Problem with Supes is that he does not have the best rogues gallery but any of those bad dudes would make for a wicked film.

Best news I’ve heard all day.

SUPERMAN RETURNS is an excellent film which suffered from very narrow expectations on the part of comic fans who refused to take it on its own terms.

I am gratified to hear this news. Singer is a fine director who deserves a second shot.

SUPERMAN RETURNS is an excellent film which suffered from very narrow expectations on the part of comic fans who refused to take it on its own terms.

It’s impossible to take a film on its own terms when it refuses to stand on its own terms.

If Singer didn’t want fans making endless negative comparisons between his Superman film and Donner’s Superman films – which, at the risk of branding myself a heretic, were not very good to begin with – then he shouldn’t have tied it into the Donner films so heavily to begin with.

If anything, Singer is the most narrow-minded one in this equation, since he seems incapable of conceiving of Superman as anything outside of a) the version that Donner presented and b) a place for him to work out his own issues regarding his feelings about being adopted.

All of the Singer apologists cite the “emotional depth” of his Superman film, but this is a blatant fallacy, because there was no emotional depth whatsoever; James Marsden’s valiant efforts aside, all of the actors gave their performances the depth of the paper the script was printed on, and the script itself gave them remarkably little dialogue to actually work with. Moreover, none of the issues that were raised by Lois’ marriage or her son’s parentage were really addressed in any meaningful way. As such, this film was literally the worst of all possible worlds.

Evan, I gotta agree with K-Box… I can’t take a film on its own terms when it’s not doing much of anything on its own. Most of what we saw was merely a rehash of Donner’s work, and that’s a work that (IMO) hasn’t aged well.

Narrow expectations? I don’t think so… I wanted to enjoy Superman Returns. I really did. Who didn’t want to after a lack of Supes on the big screen for nearly two decades?

The bottom line is that the movie failed to assert itself as its own film, it was a bland, ponderous piece that is not what most filmgoers expected, and the idea of SR being a sequel of sorts to Supes 1 & Supes 2 created numerous plot holes and complications.

Tell ya what… Instead of telling us what an “excellent film” it is, tell us WHY you think it was so great. I don’t mind that you liked it. I would just like to know WHAT you liked about. Aside from the airplane rescue and the rooftop gunman scenes, pretty much nothing worked for me.

Oh wait, the homage to the cover of Action #1 was pretty cute. OK, that’s it. Hated the rest.

I wrote an entire review on the picture, but in brief- I liked the humor (particularly the darker bits of it), the sheer visual beauty of it- it’s a picture that looks utterly amazing, and the basic theme of Superman’s struggle to reconnect with humanity and throw off the alienation he feels, as ultimately symbolized by lifting and tossing away the twisted parody of Krypton that Lex creates, then falling to Earth- in a garden, no less- to be reborn. And the actual superhero business worked very well for me, despite the lack of fight scenes- the plane sequence is remarkable. There’s an earnest and uncynical attitude to the whole thing, which is exactly what a Superman film should have- there’s more drama and Superman himself isn’t without flaws, but we are shown that he can work past them.

I don’t really buy into the criticism that it’s just a retread of the Donner films. It’s definitely of a piece with them, but it has a darker tone, a more stylized look, and represents a progression for the character.

In short, it’s visually gorgeous, thematically complex, alternates spectacle and humor, has some great performances, and explores some interesting emotional territory alongside the superheroics.

He was first experimenting with the idea of a secret identity. A longer version of the scene had him trying out an eyepatch, a beard, etc.